1995 Pollution Prevention Environmental Excellence Awards

Note: EPA no longer updates this information, but it may be useful as a reference or resource.

Sears Manufacturing CompanyDes Moines, IA

Sears Manufacturing Company removed a low pressure foam pouring machine and replaced it with a high pressure machine; thereby eliminating the use of methylene chloride in their manufacturing process as a flush solvent.

R.R. Donnelley Printing Co. L.P.Des Moines, IA

R.R. Donnelley Printing Co. L.P. initiated a "Space Savers" recycling system which has reduced their landfill volume weight by 7,794,000 pounds annually at a savings of $150,000 annually. This equates to an 85 percent savings in disposal costs.

Winnebago IndustriesForest City, IA

Winnebago Industries converted their spray adhesive application equipment to a roll coating process production. The change eliminated this area as a major Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) source. It also allowed one of the lamination materials' scrap to be reprocessed into plastic feedstock instead of being discarded in a local landfill.

Mason & Hanger - Silas Mason Co., Inc.Middletown, IA

Mason & Hanger - Silas Mason Co., Inc., designed and installed a closed-loop wastewater treatment system to treat pink water generated by explosive loading operations at the Iowa Army Ammunitions Plant. That is a 37 percent reduction in their treated waste water discharge.

Excel Corporation formed a Stop Waste Analysis Team (S.W.A.T.) in 1994 to help reduce waste in their facility. The team consists of employee volunteers. This team identifies problems, presents problems to other members, and strives to identify and implement solutions.

Midland Brake, Inc., implemented numerous pollution prevention measures in the chemical finishing area. Since then, hazardous waste generation has been reduced 30 percent. The annual overall savings in the chemical finishing department has been more than $70,000 since the changes were made.

Farmland Industries, Inc. - Lawrence Nitrogen PlantLawrence, KS

Farmland Industries, Inc., developed a new process for the recovery and recycling of ammonia and methanol air emissions from process condensate strippers. The demonstrated reduction of TRI emissions is greater than 1,000,000 pounds per year.

Hallmark Cards, Inc.Leavenworth, KS

Hallmark Cards, Inc., Select Drive Facility developed and implemented a high quality water-based gravure printing process for production of gift wrap and five party products. The environmental benefits include a reduction in hazardous waste generation, VOC emissions and hazardous material usage, decommissioning of a solvent recovery system with an annual operating budget of $1.4 million and provided a more user friendly printing environment for the 200 employees who work with the process.

City of LindsborgLindsborg, KS

The city, under the direction of Wes Adell, Project Director, began an experimental composting project in August 1991. Lindsborg was the first rural community in Kansas to receive a Kansas Department of Health & Environment permit. Since then, they have expanded by adding a Composting Works Conference and the Lindsborg Regional Tree Growing-Out Center.

KCP&LKansas City, MO

The KCP&L Wetland Project has several purposes in the Hillsdale watershed, including: the reduction of pollutants entering the tributary of Hillsdale Lake, and creation of an enhanced habitat area to be used as an outdoor environmental education area for local schools and communities.

City of Overland ParkOverland Park, KS

The community has a citywide project to reduce the potential for pollution by using proactive measures such as, identifying the city's solid waste, and implementing strategies and procedures designed to reduce, reuse, or recycle . The basis and root action for this project are waste minimization through source reduction and inventory control.

Allied Signal Aerospace - Kansas City PlantKansas City, MO

James S. Tira, an individual citizen, uses different communication media in order to promote pollution prevention to individuals, manufacturing and service industries, educational institutions, government agencies and technology centers. In addition, he is a consultant to the Department of Defense for pollution prevention.

Stevens & AssociatesShawnee Mission, KS

Prasad S. Kodukula, Ph.D., was formerly employed by Woodward-Clyde, where he participated in their pollution prevention program. His basic objective with this program was to provide education, communication, and training in different facets of pollution prevention by publishing articles, making presentations at conferences, conducting workshops/seminars, teaching courses and participating on various committees.

Salina Airport AuthoritySalina, KS

The Salina Airport Authority' s Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan consists of three major areas: underground storage tank removal, existing storage tank rehabilitation, and a total Industrial Pollutants Prevention Plan for the Airport.

Western Resources, Inc.Topeka, KS

Western Resources, Inc. (WRI) was one of the first utility groups to implement President Clinton's 1993 Climate Challenge Action Plan. WRI was directly involved in writing the parameters and voluntary reporting requirements of the Climate Challenge and the associated Memo of Understanding (MOU) that participant companies signed.
Tom Brown
Western Resources, Inc.
818 Kansas Avenue, 4th Floor
Topeka, Kansas 66612
(913) 575-8273

Amoco Exploration and Production Ulysses Operations Center purchased a new top-driven hydraulic drilling rig that would enable the company to minimize the impact at drilling sites by reducing the company location sizes and eliminating numerous environmental concerns, while reducing overall drilling costs.

Chance Operations, Inc.Wichita, KS

Chance Operations, Inc., has implemented programs to reduce acetone and toluene emissions. The acetone project was implemented to reduce the use of acetone in the fiberglass lay-up operation. The toluene project was implemented to improve the quality of the paint on their products. This enabled them to save money and meet the pollution prevention requirements for the future.

IFR Systems, Inc.Wichita, KS

IFR Systems, Inc., installed an aqueous cleaning system for electronic components, eliminating Freon 113. Installation reduced the use of VOCs by 95 percent, eliminated SARA 311-312-313 reporting requirements, and eliminated the need for reporting under Title V of the Clean Air Act.

Vulcan ChemicalsWichita, KS

Vulcan Chemical installed three pollution prevention projects to reduce emissions of SARA 313 chemicals to the environment. One project improved an existing process to recover methanol from a liquid stream being sent to deep disposal injection wells. The other two projects significantly reduced atmospheric emissions of hydrocarbons.

ASARCO IncorporatedFarmington, MO

ASARCO - West Fork Biotreatment Project developed a biotreatment system for removing metals from mine water prior to discharge. The pilot plant has reduced metal concentrations at levels below standards for protection of aquatic life.

Olin Corporation - Winchester DivisionIndependence, MO

The Lake City Army Ammunition Plant implemented all aspects of the Pollution Prevention Act of 1990 and incorporated all source reduction goals outlined in Executive Order 12856. This will reduce the unnecessary acquisition of toxics, which generate pollution and develop policies that will result in an overall reduction of pollution by 50 percent.

Ike Skelton National Guard Training SiteJefferson City, MO

The Department of the Army and the Air Force, Ike Skelton National Guard Training Site developed and executed a voluntary underground storage tank (UST) removal program for heating oil tanks at Missouri National Guard facilities. The tanks removed through the program were excluded from UST requirements by Subtitle I, 40 CFR Part 280. The program reduced risk to human health and the environment by removing sources of potential contamination.

A-Luster Metal FinishingKansas City, MO

A-Luster Metal Finishing has been able to surpass all NPDES discharge limits by: using dionized water for make up, counter flow rinse tanks with ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis, two step pH adjustment, ozone generation, with the use of a polymer and a finish polishing filter before going into the waste stream.

Farmland Industries, Inc.Kansas City, MO

Farmland Industries, Inc., developed the AG*21 management process that requires environmentally-sound crop production practices to preserve soil and water resources and to enhance the long-term viability of the family farm. It involves computerized record-keeping and analysis to help the farmer make sound decisions.

Hallmark Cards, Inc.Kansas City, MO

Hallmark's Kansas City Production Center, in 1992, began to implement a variety of water-base printing techniques with the intent of reducing VOC/solvent usage. This has dramatically reduced the generation of air emissions, the production of hazardous waste, and improved employee working conditions.

Metropolitan Energy CenterKansas City, MO

The Metropolitan Energy Center created the "Sustainable Community Planning Project," designed to empower communities to determine the future of their neighborhood, while also creating a better living environment in the present. The ideas of community involvement and pollution prevention are interwoven into the plan. Although neighborhood improvement and preservation have been the driving force of this project, it will ultimately result in pollution prevention.

The University of Missouri, Rolla, carried out a prototype investigation that shows it is possible to use high pressure waterjets to remove old friction liners from brake shoes. It found that the friction liner and the bonding can be effectively separated from the steel brake shoe body by using high pressure waterjets.

Dayco Products, Inc.Springfield, MO

Dayco Products, Inc., put a pollution prevention task force into place in January 1990 to reduce air emissions and solid waste at Dayco. This task force has authority to reduce waste from all environmental media including: source reductions, chemical substitutions, waste minimization, energy savings program, and water conservation. All programs implemented in 1990 are still in effect today.

St. Louis Regional Commerce and Growth AssociationSt. Louis, MO

St. Louis Regional Commerce and Growth Association formed a St. Louis Regional Clean Air Partnership with a community-based effort aimed at: informing the public in advance of when air quality standards for ozone might be exceeded; working with industry to take voluntarily actions to lessen poor air quality; working with news media to provide information on ozone issues; and coordinating workshops on pollution prevention.

Union Electric CompanySt. Louis, MO

Union Electric has an ongoing "Adopt-the-Shoreline Program," which is aimed at preserving the natural beauty of Missouri's Lake of the Ozarks by removing unsightly trash and litter from the shoreline, and by educating the public about the importance of keeping the lake clean.

Keep Nebraska Beautiful Lincoln, NE

Keep Nebraska Beautiful started the "Nebraska Materials Exchange Program," and the "Household Hazardous Waste Education Program," in 1994 and it's ongoing. The purpose of the Nebraska Material Exchange Program is to actively promote reuse and recycling of business and industrial wastes in Nebraska. The purpose of the Household Hazardous Waste Education Program is to educate Nebraska citizens about household hazardous wastes, including less toxic alternatives and the proper disposal of those wastes.

University of Nebraska - LincolnLincoln, NE

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln implemented UNSCRAP in July 1994 to promote the redistribution of unused chemicals to those entities both on and off campus that have a use for these chemicals. UNSCRAP has diverted 33,898 pounds of chemicals away from landfill and hazardous waste disposal facilities, for an $82,687 cost savings in less than a year and a half.